


Embarrassment Ensues

by zerxes96



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-09
Updated: 2017-11-17
Packaged: 2018-08-07 19:02:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 11,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7726171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zerxes96/pseuds/zerxes96
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Recent ghostly global threats resulted in Ghost Defense lessons to be added to every high school in the world. Naturally, that included Casper High. Revelations are made, respect is gained, and embarrassment ensues.</p><p>Phantom Planet not canon</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day 1 : Part 1

“Everything okay in there, dude?”

Tucker came into the bathroom to check on me again.

No, everything was _not_ okay. I wasn’t sick, mind you. It sure as heck felt like it, though. “Uh, yeah, just… need a minute.” My palms were sweaty and my stomach felt like I’d just eaten a boulder. It took all my willpower to stop from turning the place into a stallsicle.

“You said that ten minutes ago.”

The battle with Vortex last month forced the United Nations’ hand, and mandatory Ghost Defense lessons were instated into every high school across the globe. Naturally, that included Casper High.

_I can’t run forever. I have to face them._

I got out of the stall, much to Tucker’s excitement.

Sam was waiting for us outside the bathroom. She was trying her hardest to keep a straight face on. “Nice hairdo.”

Something told me it wasn’t my spiked front hair that she found amusing. Nonetheless, she handed me a comb for the hair that had stood up after half an hour of my forehead in my hands.

I told them about Valerie’s and my rescue mission, the real reason Dani showed up in Amity Park last night, how Valerie and I teamed up to take down Vlad Plasmius in order to save her. I left out the part where Valerie was the reason Dani even made it to Plasmius’ examination table in the first place.

I stopped outside the door. You’d think it was the nurse’s office I was about to walk into. Sam and Tucker expected as much.

“Well, see ya inside,” said Tucker, and with that, Sam and Tucker walked into class.

This was so stupid. _Why are Ghost Defense lessons even needed? I get that ghosts are sometimes dangerous, but what good could possibly come out of learning about them in a classroom setting? If anything, integrating it into Phys Ed would make more sense._

_Think positive, Fenton._

Mom always told me positive things happen to positive people.

 _At least Jazz isn’t in the class._ She’d _never_ be able to keep her mouth shut. By the end of the day, everyone in the school would probably know I’m Danny Phantom. _At least the teacher wasn’t Vlad._ I didn’t need to come up with a reason that was a good thing. Self-explanatory.

Through the door, I could hear Dash’s voice. Apparently there was a huge football game against Wendy High, Casper’s biggest rival, and Dash caught the winning touchdown. I wasn’t a big fan of sports, and was even less a fan of Dash, so I didn’t care all that much.

Kwan was struggling with math homework that was due in two periods. Starr was lending him a hand.

I didn’t hear Valerie’s voice. _She must be out for the day._

That’s when the bell rang. I _had_ to walk in at that point. _What could possibly go wrong?_

I could’ve sworn my hand shook the doorknob so much the entire class could hear it hitting against the wall like a woodpecker.

I let go of the handle, and took a deep breath. “Hey, everyone,” I said. “I’m your new teacher. You can still just call me Danny.”


	2. Day 1: Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ghost Defense is now a class at Casper High. Just how long can Danny go without people learning his secret? Better question: How oblivious can Casper High be?
> 
> Phantom Planet is not canon in this phic.

Class had a good start. Everyone, including Mr. Lancer, who was watching me from the sidelines, treated me like they would any other teacher. In other words, aside from them actually listening before talking smack, nothing had changed.

I drew my best attempt at an octagonal prism on the chalkboard. The friction on the board was so much higher than pencil on paper. I didn't understand how teachers could do this 5 days a week and not go insane.

"This is a ghost portal. The Fenton Portal, what my family calls ours, creates a hole in space and charges it with ectoplasm, creating a portal into the Ghost Zone."

Tucker was the only one who seemed to understand/care what I was talking about, so I left it at that.

Also because Dash asked "How's this gonna help us kick ghost butt?"

For once, I agreed with Dash. This wasn't going to help. Nothing I could teach them could help then in a fight against ghosts.

Lucky for them, the only ghosts _they've_ had to deal with was the Box Ghost, or Johnny 13. Every time someone like Vortex, or Nocturn came along, it's 'Danny Phantom, help!' Not that I mind, it's just…they don't _have_ to fight ghosts.

"Uh, dude?" Tucker snapped me out of my internal monologue.

I'd zoned out for a minute. "Oh, yeah. Sorry. Just zoned out." Undergrowth. Vortex. Nocturn. I saved the thought for later. I had a class to teach.

_What would dad do?_

I pulled my purple backpack from under the podium and placed it on top of the table next to it. I got a bunch of curious looks, so I figured I was on the right track with. I pulled out the Fenton Thermos. I got a slight static shock, but I ignored it, thinking it was nothing.

"This is the Fenton Thermos. It can contain any ghost, no matter how big, no matter how powerful."

I caught Sam smiling from the corner of my eye, and it eased the tension I had when I walked in through the door. It also made me blush a little.

I quickly turned to the chalkboard again so no one would notice. My heart was racing 100 miles an hour.

_Calm down, Danny._

I eventually did calm down, but for all the wrong reasons.

I knew it was only a matter of time before they found out. A loud boom echoed through the hallways, and Mom and Dad knocked down the door to the classroom, holding the Ecto-Dejecto, and the Fenton-Peeler, respectively.

"Nightmare Abbey, Fentons! What is going on here!"

"We detected ecto-activity in this room. Everyone put your hands up if you know what's good for you," threatened Dad.

This was the exact reason the school preferred me to teach the class instead of one of my parents. With me, the door would still be intact by the end of the day.

I saw Dash getting up and thought was going to burst into laughter. Compared to what he did, I'd actually have preferred that. "You Fenturds couldn't even catch the Ghost of Submission! Every time a ghost shows up, you guys only make it worse! You're nothing but a wannabe Phantom!"

_Oh no._

"That's – a lie," Dad snapped back. I'd never seen him act like that. He was really upset that Dash had insulted his ghost-hunting abilities. "You know what I think? You're probably the cause of the ecto-spike! Yeah, you're just trying to tear us Fentons apart! Well it's not gonna work, pal!"

Dad snatched the Fenton peeler out of Mom's hands and aimed it at Dash.

I had no clue what was going on, but I didn't want to see what would happen if Dash got hit with the Fenton-Peeler. I ran up to Dash while the Peeler finished building around Dad and knocked Dash out of the way.

"Hey, watch it!"

"This has – "

Before I could snap back at Dash, a sharp pain filled my chest, like my heart had turned metal and was trying to escape my rib cage any way it could. My vision faded to darkness, the last thing I remember being Sam's concerned face.


	3. Day 1: Final Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ghost Defense is now a class at Casper High. Just how long can Danny go without people learning his secret? Better question: How oblivious can Casper High be?
> 
> Phantom Planet is not canon in this phic.

My eyes shot open. The circular motion the ceiling fan made above me was oddly calming. We were still at Casper High, still in Lancer's room.

"Oh, Danny!"

Mom and Mr. Lancer loomed over me.

"How are you feeling? Do you remember what happened," Mom continued.

Getting up off the ground felt like lifting weights. "What? I'm fi— arrrrggghhh!" It was the sharp pain I felt in my heart, except this time it encompassed my entire chest.

"I'll go get your father just, stay put!" With that, Mom ran off.

Sam walked up to me and took her place. Tucker followed.

"Dad?"

"He ran off after he shot you. He couldn't forgive himself for hurting you in his hysteria," Sam said.

I closed my eyes for a moment, and when I opened them, Sam looked like she'd seen a ghost.

"What happened?"

"Danny, your eyes!"

"Fenton's collapsed on the ground, and the goth geek is complimenting his eyes," Starr said from the crowd.

Right as she said that, blueish-white rings materialized around me and traveled across the mid-section of my body, then snapped back together like a rubber band.

_What was that flash of light? I can't see anything!_

Confusion loomed over the students in the class. They couldn't see what was going on thanks to Mr. Lancer, Tucker and Sam blocking their view.

I was sweating so much Sam let go of my hand in disgust. I couldn't blame her. I would've done the same if our roles were switched. I laid back down. I was worried about Mr. Lancer. What was he making of this? My vision was blurred, so I couldn't see the look on his face.

After two more minutes of pain, my dad came in with the Ecto-Dejecto. "I just knew you'd be okay! That's my boy!" He went to hug me.

Mom had to hold him back and remind him that my entire upper body was still in pain.

"I just wanna –" He was waving the Dejecto around like it was his most prized possession.

_Wait._

He wasn't seriously thinking of shooting me what that after what the last thing did to me, was he?

"Dad, no!"

"Don't worry, son, this Multi-Dejecto gets rid of anything that isn't supposed to be in your body. Why, once, I forgot to take the toast out of the toaster and swallowed the toaster whole! Choked for about thirty minutes before this got it out."

As crazy as that sounded, I showed my agreement by relaxing as much as I could. Dad administered the serum. A minute later, the pain dissipated, and I could finally focus.

"Okay, great, thanks, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, bye!" Tucker and Sam hastily shoved my confused parents out the door.

Aside from being drenched in sweat, I felt fine. For the first time since I got my ghost powers, my brain didn't feel heavy. I felt relaxed.

"Class dismissed," said Mr. Lancer. "Mr. Fenton, why don't you go rest?"

"Uh, I still get paid, right?"

A smile formed at the edge of Mr. Lancer's lips. I wasn't sure if that was assurance, or if he thought I was joking. "Well, you still have the job, so, we'll see. See you tomorrow, Mr. Fenton. Or should I say _Mr. Fenton._ "

Lancer started laughing after that. If he thought that was funny, then he probably didn't think I was joking about the paycheck, which was fine by me. I just hoped I could survive this job until payday.


	4. Day 2 : Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second day of Ghost Defense lessons

Why couldn't my job be being cursed to hunt Skulker for all eternity, or something?

Yesterday wasn't exactly the best day of my high school career, but it beat getting shoved into a locker. And actually, I wished today would've been the same. Too bad the Ghost of Embarrassment had it out for me. Let me start from the beginning: a.k.a. my room.

Two windows adorned the wall I was facing, side by side, albeit separated by a small gap. It's what I saw _in_ the gap that caught my attention. A magenta "V" with a tiny camera lens where the two diagonal lines met. _Vlad._

My blood was boiling and my fingers rolled into two fists. I haven't to fight ghosts in three days and the stress that I'd been missing out on compiled into my head all at once.

I turned to look at the clock just above the door. Half an hour before school started.

I had enough time for a detour.

"Danny, breakfast," Jazz yelled as I ran out of the room and out of the house.

"No time, gotta set up for class," I yelled back.

When I was sure that nobody had followed me, I let the blue-white halos engulf my body, kicked my feet off the ground, and, as I like to call it, went ghost.

My suspicions were confirmed on my way to Vlad's place.

The general public still wasn't used to seeing flying teenage ghosts. What gave that away, you ask? It certainly wasn't my breathtaking knowledge of social constructs, or even having seen it in a movie. It was the mini fighter jet with a "Vlad's Air Support" sticker slapped on the side. Yeah. Not something you'd want on your tail.

Luckily, the pilot was a newbie. His threats gave that away. "Excuse me! You're flying in restricted air space. Please leave."

Lesson one: when threatening someone, try not to use the word 'please.'

I just flew up higher and into the clouds, out of the jet's sight.

"What – where did it go?"

Lesson two: when threatening someone, make sure you always have a backup plan in case the threat doesn't work. Like a weapon, for instance. That's when something hit me. Literally.

I woke up on the ground with Vlad Plasmius looming over me.

"For future reference: knock before entering someone's home, or you'll end up a carpet, as you are now."

I blasted him with a handful of ecto-energy, sending him flying up and into a billboard of himself. "For future reference: When you have the upper hand, don't let your guard down, or you'll end up a wall decoration as you are now."

"Ah, plagiarism. You must make your father proud, battling ghosts with nothing but the best the Fentons have to offer," mocked Vlad.

"Why are you spying on me," I pressed.

He had confusion written all over his face. "Daniel, as much as I'd love to feed your ego, you are not the only thing on my agenda. And as it so happens, I'm running a bit behind schedule, so if you could scurry along and torment some Box Ghost, that would be much appreciated."

 _You're the one that shot me down._ I was looking for him anyway, so I left that part out. "Why should I –"

"Hey, look! It's Danny Phantom!"

I looked off to where the voice came from below us. We were right next to Casper High. The person that just screamed into the sky was Dash.

 _Why is he here to early?_ I looked at my watch. 7:15 AM. Class started in five minutes.

"Crap! I'm gonna be late!"

"What are you talking about?"

I ignored Vlad and flew into the school and into the bathroom. As soon as I reverted to human, I ran into the classroom… with a certain crazed-up fruitloop right behind me. Great.

_Gotta think fast. What can I…_

"Uh, so, today, I brought in an _old friend_ to help teach the class. Meet Vlad Plasmius." It took all my willpower to muster the words 'old friend.'

A minute later, Dash slammed the door open drenched in sweat. "You guys are never gonna believe it! Danny Phantom was just outside! He was fighting – that guy!" Dash stared pointedly at Plasmius.

"What in blazes is going on here?"

"Dash, take a seat. Class is about to start," I said over Vlad. I couldn't believe those words just came out of my mouth.

Everything was happening too fast, I just did what came naturally. I took out the Fenton Thermos and crammed Vlad inside it.

"Let me out of here!"

"Only if you agree to do as I say. Try and run away, and it's back in the thermos. Deal?"

"Oh, very well."

I flicked the switch on the thermos and pointed it at the ground. I was prepared to cram him back in, but to my surprise, be didn't try to fly away.

"Since you're the teacher, I assume this is the Ghost Defense class that was added due to the passing of the Ecto-Sanctum Act last week?"

I nodded.

Vlad had a silly grin on his face. He turned to the class. "Hey, would you like to know a Fenton secret my _old friend_ Daniel here told me?"

Kwan's eyes lit up. I didn't take him to be the gossip type.

"It's about those so called 'Ghost Portals, you see. They're powered by residual ecto-energy the Earth generates, re-structured as a double-helix for compatibility concerns. Apparently, they can only be activated from the inside, which means whoever turns the thing on is right in the middle of a chemical reaction between human DNA and makeshift ecto-DNA."

Kwan looked at me. "Is that how your portal works?"

"Sadly, yes. My dad put the switch on the inside, too, so…" What am I saying?

Dash was still head-over-heels from seeing the Phantom-Plasmius showdown. "Do you think that's how Danny Phantom got his powers?"

"Okay, thanks for stopping by Mr. Plasmius! I _really_ wish you could stay, but you did say you're running behind schedule, right?" I hurriedly shoved Vlad out the door.

"But of course. Always a pleasure working with you, Daniel. Don't forget to send me the lecture notes," mocked Vlad as he turned into a purple vortex, evil laughter fading into the void.

My blood was boiling again. I should've just exposed him right then and there.

I yawned. _I'm not cut out for this._ Why can't my mom just teach this class? _Actually…_

"What do you guys say we go on a field trip?"


	5. Day 2 : Part 2

Sam, Tucker and I were walking in front of the rest of the class, with Valerie sandwiched between the two groups.

"Are you taking us to Plasmius' secret evil lair?"

While Valerie's suggestion was tempting, I didn't want to risk him 'teaching' them anything else.

"No," I said to the ghost hunter behind us.

"She's a ghost hunter, and you brought a ghost to class," Sam whispered. "I'd say her suspicions are pretty valid."

"Then why didn't she shoot at him?"

Tucker answered my question. "Maybe because you were standing right next to him?"

"Which means she still doesn't know your secret," added Sam.

"What are you guys whispering about?"

"Nothing," Sam and I spat back at Valerie. This time, the whole class was listening in on our conversation, including Mr. Lancer, who was keeping watch from a distance, taking notes.

I let out a sigh. "We're here."

We stopped in front of the two-story brick apartment that proudly wore a slapdash sign for a tie and a UFO for a hat. Fenton Works.

_I hope nobody's home._

Right as I was walking up the three steps to the door, my face was greeted with the force of a thousand ecto-blasts.

"Danny-o! You're home – Danny?" My dad stood where I was half a second ago. Glaring down into the hoard of 17 to 18-year-olds staring back up at him, he acknowledged Sam and Tucker, and eyed Dash snickering in the back with Kwan and Starr.

"Baxter. What have you done with my boy?"

"I'm right here," I said back to him from my position lying on the ground, rivers of blood streaming down from my nose to my chin.

_Why is it that Dad's the only life-threatening part of this job?_

"We're only here because we were hoping they could get some combat training in the Fenton Dojo," explained Tucker, who didn't sound like a donkey when talking from plugging up his nose.

Dad eyed Dash again. "Can I play?"

Dash gave his best attempt at an innocent smile, which only made Dad angrier.

This time, Sam tried talking to my dad. "Sorry, Mr. Fenton. As much as we'd _love_ for you to show your stuff, we can't risk any _serious_ injuries."

"Ah, fine." Dad was genuinely disappointed.

I let the class into the Dojo behind the building, and further to the changing rooms so they all could get into their jumpsuits: orange for the guys, and blue for the girls.

The dojo was much less a dojo than it was an open field with booby-traps build into the ground.

I broke off back into the house and into the bathroom, closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and let the nostalgia take over. Two blue-white rings that were all too familiar to me formed around my waist and traveled in opposite directions, bread-crumbing a black jumpsuit and a stylized "D" on my chest.

I went back outside after dying my hair black and put in the blue contacts Dani had given me for me last Christmas. She'd given them to me just in case I was put in the recurring situation where I couldn't change from ghost to human.

"Hah! And you call _me_ a phanatic," Dash teased to Kwan.

Ordinarily, a comment like that would be followed through with me being embarrassed to no end, but I just let out a smirk, then looked on to Dash in pity.

My confidence that my secret wasn't at stake was saddening.

My dad bribed me asking to make sure Dash leaves with a little more than a scrape on the knee. I was happy to oblige.

Dash and Kwan were having fun with the equipment playing tag, or something. When no one was looking at me, I poked a right finger out from around my back and shot Dash's gun out of his hands, leaving him wide open for Kwan to blast him into the ground.

The animosity Dash showed Kwan would've scared Skulker out of his ecto-suit.

That earned a smile from Tucker and Sam. Looking over to Valerie, she followed suit, but luckily only because Sam and Tucker gave it away that I'd done it, and not because she'd seen me.

"Dash and Kwan seem to be ahead of the curve," I shouted to the rest of the class. "Go and have fun!"

"Well, Mr. Fenton. It looks like you're finally getting a hang of this 'whole teaching your peers' thing," said Mr. Lancer, who'd sat down next to me.

"Yeah. That doesn't mean I like it."

"You think any of us adult teachers enjoy putting up with you guys? Life requires sacrifices."

Off in the distance, Valerie was dominating the field. She looked back at me and smiled, almost like she was trying to reel me in.

I smiled back and got up to join everyone. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean life's no fun."


	6. Day 19

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

I knew Valerie had bad memories of the place, but I never imagined anything this bad. She was almost as nervous as I was on my first day of work.

"Don't worry, Valerie, I'm here for you!"

Apparently not bad enough that she couldn't give Tucker a beating for trying to make a move on her.

Luckily, the forest we were in didn't have any mosquitoes, and was big enough that we could hide our presence. That proved to be unnecessary, though, since the gardener was probably out hunting.

I brought the class into the Ghost Zone. More specifically, Skulker's Island.

"I think we've done enough training. If Casper High's so adamant about this being a Ghost Defense class, why not fight some ghosts in it?" My response was for Valerie, it was directed at Sam. She, too, was against bringing everyone here after only a week of training.

They were all equipped with ghost fighting armor, Valerie wearing her own. The armor let them touch ghosts, intangible or not. Next to the Fenton Ghost Catcher, the suits were some of the only things Dad made that did what it was supposed to. I was just in my ghost form, with my hair dyed black, and my blue contact lenses in. I told the class my jumpsuit had micro ecto-blasters in them in case I needed to use my ghost ray to defend the class.

I'd proven day after day that I was a better fighter than most of them, save Valerie, but they were still skeptical when it came to respecting me as what I was: their teacher, and a seasoned ghost-fighter. Made me wonder if I should've started demanding badges from every ghost I defeated to wear on my backpack. I figured some teamwork fighting ghosts would fix that.

"What was that?"

Apparently nervousness was contagious. Starr's shriek resulted in the entire A-List being more alert than they ever were at a football game. Or so I overheard Paulina say.

To Starr's side, there was a ripple, like when you look off into the distance on a hot day and can see heat waves, except these moved and were almost scorpion-shaped. The ripples weakened; and a ghost took its place, eyes – and mouth – fixated on the scared teen in front of it.

No way was I letting a ghost eat a classmate, no matter how much I disliked them. Almost 3 years with my powers taught me that the only ghost allowed to do harm to humans was myself.

"Special delivery from bee-hind," I yelled as I swooped in from – you can fill in the rest.

The ghost went flying into one of the trees, compliments of yours truly.

I flew back to my two best friends who were firing their ecto-guns at it.

"'bee-hind?' Dude, the guy's a scorpion." Tucker shifted his onslaught to me.

Of course I'd known that, but I didn't know any good scorpion puns, so I went with a bee one. "Really? Huh. I guess that explains the tail." I had a good comeback though, so I played dumb.

"I wish Danny Phantom were here," started Dash. "All we've got is Fenton."

I wanted to blast Dash with an ecto blast so badly. If it weren't for Sam catching on and holding my hand in disapproval, I would have.

"Let me show you how it's done!" Dash started running towards the ghost while Paulina and Starr held it still.

"Hey, purple-breath! You look a little stung up. Too much tail? Try a bit of… man, how do you do this without stuttering?"

His physical attack was almost as good as the verbal.

Purple-breath swung its tail and pushed Dash flying into a boulder, which conveniently was just within hearing range for me to taunt him.

"Should I be taking notes," I scoffed.

The creature's grunt was more scrapping than the dragon, Dora we'd fought: more fitting of a scorpion, though that seemed to be the least of our concerns.

"Now boys, can't you two get along just this once?" Mr. Lancer didn't seem to like that I was tormenting Dash in the middle of a ghost fight. Neither did Dash, for that matter, but who cares about Dash?

Dash looked up at me and did a passive aggressive pout, which disgusted me surprisingly more than if it were Mr. Lancer that had done it. Sorry if I gave you that image. He turned to where the scorpion was, emphasis on was.

"Wait, where's the ghost?"

Kwan was right. The ghost had vanished.

"It went invisible and ran away while you two were chatting," answered Paulina.

"Don't be so sure. Ghosts love sneak attacks."

Nothing happened for the next five minutes. The ghost had actually run away. I loosened my fists.

"You've done well as their teacher. You guided them through the Ghost Realm and taught them to work together. I think you've earned their respect, as well as your pay," started Mr. Lancer.

My eyes lit up. "Does this mean…"

"You can consider your job over. Now for the love of all books, Fenton, can you _please_ take us home?"


	7. Day 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Told from Valerie's POV because I'm in a Valerie mood
> 
> More so a one-shot than another chapter. I didn't see any better place to put this, so I'm adding it onto EE

Curse this stupid school and their stupid rules. Who on Earth decided a student teaching a class full of people their own age was a smart idea? Especially _this_ class? I wasn't upset about being the new Ghost Defense teacher, but I wasn't exactly fond of teaching _this_ group of kids.

Dash and Kwan were hitting on Paulina and Starr: don't know why Kwan was hitting on Starr when they were already in a relationship.

 _Remember what Fenton told you._ I had asked Danny for advice on how he dealt with this crowd yesterday. His mom told him "Positive things happen to positive people." So long as I stayed optimistic, I'd get through this like it was a ghost fight.

The only thing that made looking at them even remotely bearable was Danny sitting directly behind them.

In my head, Danny was giving me courage, awakening the dormant bravery that only ghost sightings could ever evoke in me.

Seeing his face almost made me forget how much I hated my former friends, and Phantom. Phantom had ruined my life. He destroyed everything my dad and I owned. And then my _friends_ cut me out because I wasn't rich anymore. Danny was the only one to be there in my time of need. Well, him and Tucker, but he was just trying to make a move on me. He doesn't count.

"All right, y'all, listen up! I'm the woman in charge here. You wanna goof off, fine, but it's your chatterbox against my ectogun, so one way or another, this room's about to get _real_ quite," I threatened as I changed into my red ghost hunting suit.

Unfortunately, the verbal attack was enough to shut them up. You could hear Tetslaff and Ishiyama playing chess three rooms down the hall. I could see through the edge of my eye that Lancer was impressed. I changed back and started teaching the class what the instruction manual Vlad gave me said.

"The basic building blocks of ghosts are different from those of humans, which is why human objects, such as this book, or even bullets from a gun, would go right through them," I started. "that's why we have these ecto-weapons. Their ammo is a special anti-ghost plasma, making it as lethal to them as guns and arrows are to us, if fired at the right organ."

While I was teaching them about ghost anatomy, I couldn't help but let the question of how half-ghosts like Dani and Vlad worked occupy the back of my mind. I almost didn't notice Dash interrupt my from the back of the room.

"You're like a ghost. I didn't even see you there" He was talking about Danny behind him.

"I _am_ a ghost."

I was too shocked at Danny's response to reprimand the A-Listers for talking over me. "Danny, that's not something you should take as a compliment."

Ghosts ruin lives. The only good ghost is Dani, and only because part of her is still human. Danny more than anyone should know that being called a ghost was an insult, having grown up in a family of ghost hunters. I remembered that time the Fentons thought their daughter, Jazz, was a ghost. As long as that assumption was in the air, Jazz went through nothing but pain, suffering, and humiliation.

"But he's right, Danny continued. "I can even turn invisible and shot green beams of energy out of my hands."

Kwan bursted into laughter at that. "HAHAHA Fenton's got a sense of humor! Who knew?"

Even Starr was chuckling a little, though she was trying to hide it. Danny turned to his friends Sam and Tucker, almost saying "I told you so."

He was smirking. He only smirks when he likes what he hears: when his trick or trap worked. Was he hoping for Dash and Kwan to dismiss his remarks as nothing more than a joke? What if he was telling the truth?


	8. Day 21: Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Add-on to the previous chapter
> 
> Still Valerie's POV

"I wonder why they made _her_ teach this ghost class," Sam started. "It's not like she has any real ghost fighting experience." Sam's tone was oozing mockery.

 _What's going on, here?_ _Does she know my secret? What's with Danny?_ Danny started chuckling, but suppressed it once he noticed my glare. It freaked me out that Tucker seemed to be the most normal of the trio.

"Yeah, Danny Phantom could be in this class _right now._ No one would be able to do anything about it without Danny's ghost hunting weapons!"

Okay, I take that back. Tucker was plenty annoying.

"Tucker, _so_ not helping the situation," murmured Danny. A dozen needles danced across my forehead. I didn't understand how Danny was able to do this for 20 straight days. _That's it! Danny!_

"Hey, Danny! Come up here! I need you for a demonstration."

"I need you to play the part of Phantom."

Sam and Tucker started snickering, much to Danny's dismay.

"You're no ghost hunter," Danny started. "You couldn't catch a cold if it... rang the door bell?"

The entire class burst out in laughter. Too bad they were laughing at Danny and not his witty banter. It earned a genuine chuckle out of me, though.

Danny clenched his fists and lounged at me, trying to land a weak punch. I dodged and flipped him onto the ground. I hoped Mr. Lancer was okay that I was turning his classroom into a dojo.

His exclaiming "Phantom of the Opera" disproved that hope real quick.

"That punch might save you when you're up against a Box Ghost or two, but you're gonna have to be a little more aggressive than that against _me._ Why not use that fabled intangibility, or those 'green beams of energy`you were talking about?'"

"I'm not actually going to hurt you," Danny said after a moment enduring the back pain from being thrown into the floor.

I smiled, letting out a short breath through my nose. "That makes one of us."

When Lancer called my house asking me to do the job, I agreed because I couldn't imagine it being much worse than my old job as the Nasty Burger mascot. Come the start of class, my opinion had completely turned around. I thought this class was going to be the death of me, but you know what? Danny made this class worthwhile.

"Indeed it does," yelled a voice from out the window. Almost on cue, metal screens ran down all the windows and the announcers blared "CODE EMERALD. CODE EMERALD. CODE EMERALD." A couple "CODE EMERALD"s later, the sound of metal hitting window sills echoed across the school.

"Code Emerald? Is that different from a Code Green?"

"Code Emerald means 'ghost attack'," Danny told Kwan, taking out his Fenton Thermos.

"Do you _always_ carry that thing with you?"

"Only every Tuesday and Thursday."

I joined Danny's and Kwan's conversation. "Where was that silver tongue earlier?"

"Why can't all monsters just leave us alone? We never did anything to them." Starr was having a minor panic attack, and I couldn't blame her.

Up until two weeks ago, ghosts were the bane of my existence. Danny Phantom and his dog destroyed my home and took away my father's job. He's been nothing more than an ectoplasmic blob of misfortune and a pain in the thermos for the Gray family. But meeting Dani made me realize that ghosts can be just as humane as... well, humans, and meeting Vlad made me realize humans can be just as rotten as ghosts.

"Hey, not all ghosts are monsters," I defended. "Just having powers doesn't make you a monster. That doesn't happen until you start acting the part."

"Wow, Val. I didn't know you were a phanatic, too." the only think missing from Dash's attempt to rekindle our friendship were sparkles.

"Yeah, I am." _Dani_ Phantom. Maybe Danny Phantom wasn't that bad a guy after all, and I was just letting my past feelings getting in the way, but I figured I'd save that internal monologue for another day. "I'm still mad at you guys for leaving me to rot when my life was in pieces."

A few minutes later, the ghost came phasing through the reinforced door. "BEWARE! I AM THE BOX GHOST! THESE METAL RECTANGLES CANNOT CONTAIN MY FURY!"

Speak of the devil. While everyone else was hiding under their desks, Danny walked up to the ghost.

"Are you the one that's been terrorizing this school today," he asked.

"BUT OF COURSE! WHO ELSE COULD CAUSE THIS BIG OF AN UPROAR?" You could hear crickets off in the distance.

"He does have a point." Danny turned to Sam and Tucker, who were giggling, the only two students in the class calmly sitting in their seats.

The ghost raised his arm, palm facing a pile of boxes in the corner of the room, and poltergeisted it into Danny's face. Danny dodged all of them like he'd done this a million times and slid across the floor, stopping behind the ghost.

"Show's over, folks," said Danny as he uncapped his thermos. A blast of wind and a cyan beam encapsulated the ghost as he shrank and was sucked into the thermos.

The class erupted into applause: a good change from the laughter Danny was subject to earlier.

"You know, you make a pretty good Phantom," I joked, propping Danny up off the floor. "Make sure I don't catch you in that mock-Phantom jumpsuit you have when I'm patrolling the area. I just might kill you!"

Danny just looked back at Sam and Tucker, then looked down at the floor, almost to say "Too late for that."


	9. Day 23: Weekend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr has brought to my attention that the show treated Tucker as little more than comic relief, when the general consensus of the phandom is that he deserves so much more respect. As a result, this chapter will be told from TUCKER'S POV

Man, how come Danny got all the girls? As if Paulina drooling over Phantom and Valerie drooling over Fenton wasn't enough, almost every other girl in the class went head-over-heels for him after the Code Emerald two days ago.

You must be thinking: _almost_ isn't _all_ , right, Foley? Under normal circumstances, yes. If there's one truth about being best friends with a half-ghost/half-human, it's that there was a tragic lack of _normal circumstance._

Any girl Fenton didn't have, Phantom swept off her feet before I could even make a move! And my parents wondered when this devilish PDA was gonna have digits of the female persuasion put into her.

Anyway, it was a weekend, so there weren't any classes. Danny, Sam, and I were gonna hang out at the Nasty Burger. On my way there, I saw a group of people hovering around one person like paparazzi. Wondering what it was all about, I went over and squeezed my way through the maze of people until I could see who was important enough to need to take up half the road; I wish I'd just left them be and went on with my life. Vlad Masters was being interviewed about the Ecto-Sanctum Act, and whether or not they were getting any results.

Vlad's eyes met mine, and that's when I knew I was in deep ectoplasm. "Well, why don't we ask this young man here, hmm?" Vlad pulled me out of the crowd, arm arced around me like we were the best of friends. "Techno Foul-Breath, was it?"

I jabbed him in the stomach and stepped away. "It's Tucker Foley."

"Ah. More importantly, Amity Park News would like to know how those Ghost Defense lessons are coming along. Are they helping you ward off all those evil ghosts that haunt this town?"

"I can't really say. Wanna find out?" I reached into my backpack to pull out an ecto-blaster Danny had given me.

To my satisfaction, Vlad stopped me before his secret was put in jeopardy, and turned back to the press. "I think that's enough for today."

"You passed up your opportunity to embarrass me to preserve your publicity ratings. I'm impressed."

"Yes, well, sometimes capturing a queen requires sacrificing your bishop."

The sky started to darken with storm clouds. I thought it was Vlad's doing, but he looked just as surprised as I was. Evil laughter filled the air: familiar obnoxious laughter. Technus.

"HELLO CITIZENS OF AMITY PARK! I AM TECHNUS. MASTER OF ALL THINGS ELECTRONIC!"

After the usual Technus introduction, however, a bulky white/green mecha-suit materialized in the sky.

"Skulktech?"

Skulktech looked confused. Come to think of it, Skulktech wasn't supposed to be in this timeline. This Skulktech didn't look anything like the one from before: there was silver where there should've been black. _Is this the birth of Skulktedh?_

"Skulktech? That's a great name! BEHOLD! SKULKTECH 3.2! The 3 means the next level up from Technus 2.0, and the .2 is because there are two of us, now," the Technus part explained.

"I think I'll take you up on your earlier challenge. Why not show us what you're made of against this ghost?" A limo. pulled up in front of us and went off with Vlad.

_That two-faced fruit-loop!_

"No ghost child today? I was hoping to test out my new equipment on him. I guess you'll do," the Skulker part taunted.

"What, I'm not good enough for you? Maybe you've forgotten that I'm the reason both of you always lose."

"As they say," Skulker started.

"Two heads are better than one," Technus finished.

"Oh, please." I pulled out my PDA and loaded up the exploit I'd used in Technus's last revolt. The loading bar on my screen turned into a big green check mark a mere three seconds later. "You guys are still running that version of Portals XL? That's just sad."

"What - What is happening?" Technus' voice stuttered as I overrode and overloaded Skulktech's thrusters.

A slight whistle echoed in the air. The whining I thought was Skulktech's jet-pack was actually my PDA.

"I'm sorry, baby." I shed a tear as I threw my PDA up into the air. My hand would've caught on fire if I'd waited held on a second longer.

"Sorry about your phone. It was really impressive what you did, though. I saw the whole thing."

Ashley snuck up on me from behind. Okay, she didn't _really_ sneak up on me; I just told myself that so I felt better about her scaring the crap out of me. She was the girl I'd gone out with for a PR-ing two whole days when Danny was the judge of a beauty pageant. I wasn't particularly happy to see her considering she'd broken up with me not five minutes after Danny declared Sam the winner.

"Hey, Ashley." I pulled out my old PDA: the one I used to shut down Technus when he took over Danny's garage. "It's okay, I have a backup right here."

Ashley looked a little nervous. She had her hand on her elbow and couldn't keep her legs straight. She looked like she needed to pee. "Can... I see it for a second?"

I handed her the PDA and looked over her shoulder. She was typing something in. A 10-digit number, then her name.

* * *

I tried hiding my smile from Danny and Sam because I knew they'd ask about it and, when I told them, wouldn't believe me.

"I'm glad I'm not teaching that class anymore, but a half-ghost in a class taught by a 9th-degree black-belt souped-up with the world's greatest ghost-hunting equipment? That's like putting a mouse and a snake in the same room," Danny grumbled.

"Hey, negative auras are _my_ thing," Sam teased.

Danny shifted his verbal onslaught to me. "Anyway, what's gotten _you_ in such a good mood?"

Much to Danny's and Sam's dismay, Danny's question only made the smirk on my face grow even wider. "I traded my bishop for a queen."


	10. Chapter 10

I saw Danny and his friends walking into class from the corner of my eye.

Sam stared daggers at me, though I'm not really sure why.

"Okay, then." I turned my attention to the class as a whole. "I have another demonstration I'd like to give today. What you're about to see may shock you, I know it shocked me when I first saw it."

I turned to Danny, who was clinging onto my every word, probably the only one in the class that was. "Hey, Danny! Come up here! I need you for another demonstration."

"You still have those Fenton Micro-Blasters on you," I asked.

Danny looked back at Sam and Tucker, then looked back at me. "Yeah," he said with a grin.

I turned my back to him and pulled out my ghost thermos.

I uncapped my thermos and the azure blast came out, but instead sucking a ghost in, Dani Phantom came out.

Danny was hysterical at the sight of her. "Dani?"

"You two know each other," I asked.

"Uh, no!" Danny let out that suspicious chuckle he always did when he told a lie. "Just, the symbol on her chest. That's _Danny_ Phantom's. Isn't it?"

I let out a light chuckle. I knew Danny was lying, but I wasn't sure why. The only logical explanation was he was lying on Dani's behalf, which I thought was sweet. I'd harass Dani about it later.

"Okay, Dani. Do your thing," I encouraged.

Dani closed her eyes, clearly nervous as two blueish-white rings formed around her waistline, trailing in opposite directions and changing her appearance from ghost girl to regular girl.

I couldn't blame her for being nervous. When I found out she was half-ghost, I almost killed her, although that was on Vlad's orders, who I thought was the good guy, not that that changes anything. I still used her to get to Danny Phantom and handed her over to a man that was out to kill her. If there was anything good that came out of it all, it was that I'd learned not everyone was who they said they were, and most definitely weren't who _others_ said they were.

Half the class wasn't even paying attention, but those who were, including Sam, Danny, and Tucker, were in complete shock.

"You all have heard of ghosts, I think it's time you learned of the existence of half-ghosts," I started. "They're half-human, half-ghost. I only just found Dani a couple weeks ago, and I got this infernal job right as I was getting ready to perform X-rays and blood work, so I don't know much about their genetic makeup, but I do know this from what Dani's told me. There are some half-ghosts that can use all their ghost powers while still in human form, meaning they're the perfect threat to mankind."

Dani turned to Danny, almost asking for his approval. That settled it. Danny and Dani knew each other, and I was going to find out how, and what their relationship was. I flinched at the thought. The Fenton Micro-Blasters. Ghost powers on the human plane. The Phantom jumpsuit. Danny _Fenton_. Danny _Phantom_. It was the only way he could've known about my ghost hunting life, and the only way he could know Dani and the fact that she was half-ghost.

I backed up into the teacher's desk.

"You okay, Val," Danny asked, letting out a slight gasp immediately after. I could've sworn there was a hint of blue to his breath. "I gotta go to the bathroom!" He ran out of the room like he was running from something.

Almost immediately after, the Code Emerald alarms started blaring: a ghost attack. Metal shutters draped over the windows and door. They still hadn't ghost proofed the metal shutters, and the ghost hunter that trapped me and Phantom in the Ghost Zone materialized next to Dani.

"At last, I have found my prey."

"Maybe you should focus less on your prey, and start _praying_ I show mercy!" Danny Phantom came phasing through the locked door and started attacking the hunter until it's rockets started up, seemingly against his will, and launched him out of the classroom.

How these kids supposed to feel safe when two ghosts could easily get into a school that was supposed to be ghost-proof during a code emerald, I do not know.

" _That_ was the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter?" Dani started mocking the ghost that was just there. Maybe it was because they'd gone through this sort of thing on a daily basis, or they'd seen things far worse, but I failed to understand how they could be so at ease literally minutes after their lives were in danger... maybe it was because ghosts didn't have to worry about that?

"Self-proclaimed," rallied Phantom.

I wasn't sure if my theory on Danny was right, or whether or not Sam and Tucker knew. I told myself I was preserving what was possiblly Danny Fenton's greatest secret, but in reality it was just my rage from Phantom's past actions getting the better of me. Red swirls of wind enveloped my body and my new and improved ghost suit formed around me, an ecto-cube hovering over my left shoulder.

"Get out of the way, Dani," I yelled as I charged up a purple ecto-blast at Phantom, throwing him into a desk.

Dani threw her arms up in attempt to block my shots. "Val, stop! It's Danny Phantom! The guy who helped you save me, remember?"

"I know." My voice was as deadly as my weapons.

Danny got back up from in between the two halves of desk he'd been fired into and synced with Dani's verbal onslaught. "What's your problem?"

"I just saved your whole class," Phantom argued.

I ignored Phantom in my rage and answered Dani's question, both finger and words pointed at Danny. "He sabotaged my dad's job, destroyed everything we owned, forced my family into a life of hardship and turned me into one of the losers at school. I lost all my friends. He even dislocated all the limbs on my old ghost hunting suit when it was being remote controlled. I would be dead if I were in there! _This_ Phantom is a menace." Each word that came out of my mouth felt like a punch to Phantom's stomach, though Dani seemed to be taking the hits more seriously than the recipient himself.

"No he's not! He's always been there for me, even when I was attacking him," retorted Dani. "Have you ever seen any cartoons? Clones are usually treated like monsters, with the original being creeped out and trying to get rid of them. Not Danny. There's no way he did those things, at least not intentionally."

If there was one thing the A-Listers were good at other than bullying, it was bad timing.

Dash walked up to me rubbing the back of his head, eyes filled with sorrow. "Hey, Valerie? We're sorry we were so hard on you, we didn't know you'd been through so much."

"I tried telling you, you didn't listen." I shifted all her remaining rage onto Dash.

"Yeah, they might've been terrible friends in the past, but everyone deserves a second chance," said Phantom.

Not even a moment ago, I was dumping on Danny Phantom, and here he was reinforcing my relationships and backing up the A-Listers. He was pretty mature for his age of death. Danny might've been the first "humane" ghost I'd ever met, and didn't even know it. Up until now, I've been attacking first and asking questions never. The same mentality that almost got Dani killed and kept Danny Phantom, the good guy, from doing his job, probably on multiple accounts.

I realized the severity of what Dash just did. He'd walked up to me while I was trigger-happy and in my ghost hunting gear. Either he was stupider than he let on, or he was as in sorrow as he looked. The former was impossible.

I looked back up at Phantom. "You know what, Phantom? Maybe you're not all bad."


	11. Day 127: Jazz's POV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everyone! It's been a while! Here's an update to what's now my most popular phic!
> 
> Told from Jazz's POV thanks to DannyPhantomPhandom's and Unlucky Alis' recommendations.
> 
> There's a little reference to myself and one of the one-shots I wrote a while back, see if you can find them ;)

I am so good at keeping secrets. When I was 8, my parents and I had to keep Danny's surprise birthday party, well, a surprise, and he only found out a week before the party when I asked him what kind of cake he liked. Two years ago, I was afraid that Dad was gonna find about the pet mouse I was keeping in my room when I asked him how to clean up mouse poop, but he didn't have the slightest clue, thinking it was for a science project.

"Hello, class! I'm Jazz Fenton. Some of you might know me as Danny's sister. Danny Fenton, not Danny Phantom. They're not one and the same, that would be ridiculous!" I shot Danny a wink and let out a slight chuckle.

Danny slammed his forehead into the top of his desk and I got a skeptical glare from Dash Baxter.

Star raised her hand, which I greeted with a questioning "Yes?"

"What's this class going to be about? It's not like you have any ghost hunting experience."

The rest of the A-Listers save Valerie let out a loud laugh.

I turned my attention to the board and started writing out the phrase "Ghost Psychology."

"Ghost Psychology," I reiterated. "What ghosts feel and how they think. Danny helped me with my college report, so I thought I'd help him out and teach your class for a day. Think of me as a substitute teacher."

"Can we just get this over with," Danny groaned.

"Mr. Phan-Fenton didn't want me teaching your class," I began. "I'm gonna show him I'm just as capable as him and Valerie!"

Danny's expression remained as that of resentment.

"First, we'll start off with a very crucial question. Do ghosts become ghosts by choice, or by accident?"

Tucker raised his hand. "I think it's by accident. When a person dies a horrible death, or with unfinished business, they become ghosts. Take Sidney Pointdexter for example. He was bullied so much that he died in school during what was obviously his last bully session. He hated bullying, and wanted to rid the school of bullies, so be became a ghost that haunted the halls of our very own Casper High, kinda like a hall monitor."

"Very good observation, Tucker! Does anyone else have another example of a ghost that - actually, let me tell you about Penelope Spectra."

Everyone remembered Ms. Spectra. She fed on their resentment and misery, and then later again used everyone's intrinsic qualities to build a perfect version of herself. I had read one of Hal's, a writer about the people and ghosts that have haunted Amity Park, stories and one of them explained how Spectra died.

"Spectra was originally a nurse in a Wisconsin hospital. She was nursing to health an old friend of my Dad's, actually. Then one day, she was targeted by an evil good-for-nothing ghost named Vlad Plasmius and was murdered in the hospital bathroom."

Valerie's eyebrows rose at the mention of Vlad Plasmius, I wasn't sure why. She didn't know that Vlad Plasmius was Vlad Masters, or at least I thought. I was going to ask her what was wrong, but I wasn't sure if Danny wanted me to ask. I continued on with the lecture.

"While at first glance this attempt to understand the ghostly psyche would appear to be beyond our ability to hypothesize, I disagree. A ghost is only human after all, and we do know a few things about human behavior that we might apply to our ghostly friends as well in an attempt to better understand them."

Danny's facial expression relaxed a bit, which I took to mean I was doing a good job.

"Take Danny Phantom, for instance. Every time he fights a ghostly enemy, he lets out witty banter. This could be because joking about the fight makes him feel better, makes the fight seem less 'deadly'."

"Can we talk about something else," Danny interrupted. "Like, I don't know, if ghosts remember what they were so hung up about before they died?"

I thought about a little bit and finally answered Danny with a plain "Fine."

I went on to describe how all the ghosts that I'd encountered seemed to remember a little of how they died, and how their powers were based off of that, like the Box Ghost and his box-controlling powers, and Ember McLain and her musical powers. I got a question from Sam about if all ghosts were once alive, to which I wasn't so sure, until I remembered Skulker and how he wasn't even humanoid under his hi-tech battle armor.

"There's also Clockwork, Master of Time," Tucker added.

"Yeah," I responded. "There's the whole House of Six."

"The what?" Danny verified my claim that I knew about ghosts more than he did. Right as he said that, the bell rang, signalling the start of gym class.

I simply smiled at Danny and said "I'll talk about them another time."


	12. Day 131: Clockwork's POV

"You should become a weather reporter. You'd be second to none! You could say 'There's a 100% chance of snow, but don't worry, it'll stop at 12:17' and no one would be able to argue!"

Jazz Fenton had asked me to teach Danny's Ghost Defense class. She had wanted me to explain things to the class that she herself didn't know much about. Why she even mentioned them, and me, to the class, I do not know. I don't even know why she asked a ghost to teach a class on fighting against ghosts, or why I agreed.

"The Ghost of Weather would make a better reporter than myself," I replied to Danny, which was more than I should've done.

"He has too thick of an accent," said Tucker.

"I'm surrounded by idiots." That was one statement I agreed with Sam on.

"I don't know why I listened when Jazz asked me to teach your class." Then I remembered why I did listen to her.

I took a deep breath and planned my next words carefully. "As you are well aware, there are ghosts who command powers that are almost godlike. I myself am Master of Time. Vortex is the Ghost of Weather. Nocturn: King of Sleep and Dreams. There are also Aleph: Master of Creation, Umbra: Master of Darkness and Shadow, and my sister, Zenith: Master of Space. Together, we are the House of Six. Together, we maintain order throughout the zones."

I took a moment to let that sink into everyone's head. All the students that were awake nodded in agreement, save one Danny Fenton.

"Maintain order? You guys have been nothing trouble," Danny exclaimed. "Just last month, Vortex was rampaging across the globe! And Nocturn!"

As I am the Ghost of Time, I knew Danny would retort with that, but I still struggled to come up with a counter-argument. "I admit Vortex took things too far, but the Six maintains order by inciting fear. When someone or something threatens our grip, we go out to remind the realms that we are a force to be feared."

This time it was Sam who retorted. "Who could possibly have threatened you enough to make three of you feel the need to 'assert your grip'?"

I held out my hand and my staff materialized into it. I took a deep breath and spun my staff. A cyan vortex enveloped everyone in the room and teleported us out of the classroom and into the Ghost Zone. More specifically, into my lair.

"Where are we," asked the blonde girl with a four-petal red flower in her hair.

I looked at Danny, Sam, and Tucker, who were uneasy. I couldn't blame them; after all, the last time the three of them were here, they were forced to experience their darkest possible future.

"Welcome to Long Now," I started. "This is my home in the Ghost Zone."

The buff Asian boy looked around and admired my decor. All of my clocks, to be exact. "At least you'll never need to ask someone what time it is."

Danny looked at his two best friends and then back at me, almost asking 'Why did you bring us here?' I answered his question by raising my hand towards one of my time viewing portals and picturing a certain evil ghost whose hair was a white blaze.

The green spiral in the center of my ghost-catcher-like portal flashed and another region of the Ghost Zone became visible. In it was Danny Phantom: the muscular, evil, future one. He let out his ghostly wail and threw Ember McLain back and into Skulktech's bio-mechanical arms, who also went flying back and against the walls of their laboratory.

Ember tried to speak, but her voice was deeper, constantly cracking. "You... you destroyed my vocal chords!"

"Don't worry. your spirit will join it soon enough," evil Danny said back.

Green ectoplasm covered the screen like static on a TV and the view changed to the Observant High Council. The House of Six was also there.

"Danny Phantom has rampaged across the Earth, and now he's bringing the fight here, in our very own Ghost Zone," an Observant said.

The other Observants discussed amongst themselves about what to do with them, ignoring our presence until Auran, the highest-ranking Observant, called for order in the court. "Clockwork, you've tried to do this alone and failed. By decree of the Observant High Council, I order you to, as well as Umbra, Vortex, Nocturn, Aleph, and Zenith, to unite for this high priority cause and eliminate Danny Phantom."

The view faded away and the class turned their attention back to me, and I to Danny.

"Danny Phantom rampaging across the Earth wasn't the only reason the Observants requested his elimination."

"You're saying the House of Six fears me ... Danny Phantom? Cool!"

"No, not cool. A thousand years ago, Pariah Dark threatened the peace we'd worked so hard to maintain. Look where that got him."

Danny gulped in uneasiness.

"Defeating three of the Six isn't an achievement you... Danny Phantom should be proud of," I continued. I realized my mistake much too late, and, unfortunately, so did Danny.

"Wait, three?" He had defeated Nocturn and Vortex, but couldn't recall facing off against a third member of the House.

I let out a sigh and reluctantly explained. "Undergrowth is the reincarnation of Umbra, cursed to live, die, and be reborn in a never ending cycle on Earth."

"Cursed," Sam asked. "Why?"

I turned to the clock... one of the clocks... in my lair and let out a breath of relief. The period was almost over. "I don't have time to give you a history lesson." And with that, I spun my staff and teleported the class back to Casper High School.

"Just watch your back."


	13. Aeon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm back! (for now)
> 
> The best thing about having all your phanfics take place in the same universe is that you can easily interchange chapters like this ^_^
> 
> Told from Clockwork's POV

I am the Master of Time. That means I should be prepared for everything afterlife throws my way. Yet every year, I found myself in the same spot, rehearsing the same speech. "Happy Halloween, and welcome to Long Now. I am Clockwork. Master of…"

My concentration was broken by a soft chuckle from behind me. I turned around to find the famous ghost boy with snow white hair and glowing green eyes.

"Danny," I started, not in the least pleasantly surprised. "Why am I not surprised you're here?"

"Dude. You can see the future. Multiple futures. You tell me." Danny crossed his arms, clearly content with his comeback.

Ever since the downfall of evil Danny Phantom, both versions of the ghost in question, as well as Vlad Masters, existed outside time: to an extent, outside the reach of my abilities. As much as I hated to admit it, as I still do now, I didn't know why Danny had shown up to my lair.

"Point taken," I said shortly.

Danny floated by next to one of my Time Portals (I have to work on that name.) In it was a view of the Fenton Thermos that contained the most evil ghost on the planet. It was shaking ever so slightly, but the anti-ectoplasmic resin coating the insides were proving to be too strong, even for him.

The half-ghost turned to me forcing a smile, not wanting to be reminded of all the pain his evil older self had put him through. "Sam saw you on the news. You really built another one of those spectral thingies and gave it to Lance Thunder?"

"Their fun was short-lived, as was mine. Why don't you get to the point and tell me why you're here?"

Danny's next expression was just as fake as his earlier smile, though this time it was of offense. "What, is everyone in the 'Happy' department on vacation or something?"

I didn't say anything in response, which was more than enough a response for Danny to keep talking. "Maybe I just wanted to spend this Halloween with my time-old friend."

"There's greater chance of Tucker getting a girlfriend."

Danny let out a very real, light chuckle. "Actually, he's seeing a girl named Ashley, now."

"My mom thinks," he continued, "in the Ghost Zone, you exchange presents on Halloween instead of Christmas. I wanted to ask if that was true."

"It's true. The Ghost Zone was created out of the fears of a single human. A scientist named Nicolai Magnus wanted to prove the existence of a realm of Gods called Asgard. He was a very bright individual with a vivid imagination. But unfortunately, that imagination came with extravagant fears. Fears that the King of Asgard, Odin, was a tyrant who ruled over his realm, among others, with an iron grip. He imagined Odin had two artifacts; they were the keys to Odin's reign. Whoever had those two items, the Crown of Fire and the Ring of Rage, controlled all."

Danny interrupted my story, arms crossed with impatience. "Just get to the point!"

I let out a sigh, which was more than Danny's "patience" deserved. "Odin and his realm became a reality, known as Pariah Dark and the Ghost Zone. The date was October 31st. After Pariah and the "people of Asgard" became a reality, he declared that day his birthday and made it a law that all the people give him presents on that day."

The ghost boy uncrossed his arms, eyes beaming with understanding. "Yeah, I remember this part of the story. You mentioned in class the other day that you and the rest of the House of Six took Pariah down years later."

I nodded.

"Anyway, here." Danny unfolded his fist and held it in front of me. In his palm was a small black-and-white cube, the size of a die. "It's one of my dad's inventions. It's a matter compressor/decompressor. There's a present inside."

Clockwork presses the button on top of the cube and it unfolds into a cage with a bird in it.

Danny: Tucker and I found this ghost owl while we were patrolling Amity Park a couple nights ago. It looked lonely, and it's eyes lit up when it saw us, so I'm assuming it wanted a home and a friend.

The last time I got a present was almost a hundred years ago. But that was from my sister. That was the first time I'd gotten a present from someone outside my family.

Danny must've noticed my excitement and the want to be alone with this new creature. "I gotta go. Tucker's waiting on me to go trick-or-treating. Smell ya later."

I gave him a second nod, my gaze still fixed on the black and green owl-in-a-cage.

As soon as the half-ghost left, I opened the cage and the owl flew out and onto my shoulder. I reached over with my hand and let my finger hover next to the owl's face.

The bird pecked it ever so lightly with it's beak and started rubbing his face along it.

"Hello, my friend," I said with a smile. "My Aeon."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Nicolai Magnus is Technus when he was human. ^-^ He changed his last name from Magnus to Technus because he's all about that tech.


End file.
